EUGENE GOOSSENS (1881-1944): Kaleidoscope, Op. 18, 4 Conceits, Op. 20, Ships - 3 Preludes, Op. 42, 2 Studies, Op. 38, Homage to Paderewski, Hommage à Debussy, Op. 28, 2 Pieces, Op. 56, Capriccio, Concert Study, Op. 10, Nature Poems, Op. 25, Forlane and Toccata, East of Suez, Op. 33, L'Ecole en Crinoline - Ballet, Op. 29, Rhythmic Dance for 2 Pianos, Op. 30, BACH/GOOSSENS: Andante from Brandenburg Concerto No. 2.
Catalogue Number: 02I007
Label: ABC Classics
Reference: 476 7636
Format: CD
Price: $26.98
Description: The major works here are the 1917 Kaleidoscope, one of those suites of short pieces (12 here) about children but not for children to play, straight in line from Schumann's Kinderszenen generically but showing Goossens' characteristic mix of Debussy, Stravinskian neo-classicism and English pastoralism; Ships (1924), depicting a tug, a liner and a tramp steamer in a sort of mix of Honeggeresque pictorialism (à la Pacific 231) and Goossens' own style; and Nature Poems (1919), a 17-minute sequence of three pictures which strikingly mirror the segments of Daphnis et Chloë (i.e. "Awakening", "Pastoral" and "Bacchanal") and which is the most Impressionistic piece here. The second disc contains a 26-minute suite of excerpts from incidental music for a Maugham play of 1922 (mixing authentic Chinese flavor with richly chromatic Romanticism) and, finally, a 31-minute ballet score, never orchestrated because never performed (1921-22), which is quite unashamed of its Victorian marches and polkas amidst more characteristically neo-classical music. 2 CDs. Antony Gray (piano).